On the Ropes

From the makers of THE KID STAYS IN THE PICTURE and other great docs, ON THE ROPES won a Sundance special jury prize and was nominated for an Academy Award.

“The Bed-Stuy Boxing Center, the Brooklyn gym that is the center of Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgen’s wrenching documentary ”On the Ropes,” is much more than a neighborhood training facility for aspiring prizefighters. For the three eager young boxers whose lives are examined by the film, it is a starting point, both real and symbolic, for them to begin taking control of their lives and avoiding the self-destructive temptations of the street.

The more deeply the film delves into the worlds of Tyrene Manson, Noel Santiago and George Walton, the more acutely you empathize with the struggle of these people to transcend their grindingly difficult circumstances and achieve a hard-won self-esteem and sense of hope.” – Stephen Holden, New York Times